Machine or apparatus for counting coin



R. TYLER.

Coin Counter.

No. 2,320. Patented Oct. 11, 1841.'

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

RUFUS TYLER, DECEASED, BY PI-IILOS B. TYLER, ADMINISTRATOR, OF NEXV ORLEANS, LOUISIANA.

MACHINE OR APPARATUS FOR COUNTING COIN, &c.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 2,320, dated October 11, 1841.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PHILOS B. TYLER, chief coiner of the branch mint of the United States at New Orleans, in the State of Louisiana, am the executor of Euros TYLER, deceased, who was my predecessor in the oflice of chief coiner of the mint aforesaid, and that the said BUrUs TYLER did invent and bring to perfection a new and useful Apparatus or Instrument for the Ready and Accurate Counting of Coins and of other Articles of a Similar Character; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof.

The basis of this apparatus is a rectangular piece of board of suitable width and length, according to the kind, or size of the coin or other article to be counted; an instrument of the kind used, and which has been essayed for the counting of half dimes, is made of a piece of board measuring thirteen by eighteen inches, the length way of the grain of the wood being in the direction of the shortest diameter; this direction of the grain is not an essential feature of the instrument, but it has been found to operate best when so made.

In the accompanying drawing, this instrument is represented of one half its actual size, Figure 1 being a top View of it, and Fig. 2, a cross section, from side to side.

A A, are two cleats, or ledges, attached to the board, one at each of its two longer sides, and rising up to a convenient distance above its face.

B, B, B, are thin strips of metal let edgewise into this board, parallel to each other and to the ledges A, A, and dividing it into a convenient number of equal and shallow troughs. For ialf dimes, these strips are about half an inch apart, and they rise above the surface of the board to about two or three times the height of the thickness of the coin to be counted. At one end of the instrument is affixed a similar strip of metal O, O, which rises above the surface of the board to a height not greater than the thickness of the coin to be counted, and it may be a trifle less than this. A strip of metal is also placed along the inner sides of the ledges A, A, for the edges of the coin, or other article, to bear against, and thus to cause it to operate in the same manner with the strips B, B. The foregoing parts constitute the whole that is necessary to the construction of the instrument.

The following the manner of using this instrument. As it lies horizontally, a quantity of the coin to be counted is laid, or heaped, upon it, and it is then tilted toward the end D, D, to carry the pieces in that direction, and that end is then raised by hand to a height sufficient to cause the pieces of coin to slide down toward the end fur nished with the ledge O, C; this ledge will arrest the pieces which come against it, and thus the pieces behind them, in succession, and the result will be that there will be, in each of the shallow troughs, a succession of pieces forming a row between each of the strips of metal B, B, as shown at E, E. As it will sometimes happen that a part of a row will be double, it may be proper to touch the pieces with the finger where this occurs; but the proper way of ascertaining that every row consists of a series of single pieces, and of causing such as are superfluous to slide down, is to incline the board so that the edges of all the pieces will bear against the strips B, B, and also gradually to in cline it toward the end I), I), until the pieces roll a short distance on their edges toward that end. They are then made to roll back toward the strip O, O, by inclining the board in that direction; the superfluous pieces will then descend, and the operator is assured that all the pieces are single. There may then be two or three more pieces in one row than in another, and these are to be swept off by the finger, or by any convenient instrument, toward the end D, D. Suppose, for example, that there are twenty spaces for containing the coin, and that twenty five pieces, or more are left in a row in each division, on sweeping oil", or removing, from each row the excess above twenty five there will remain five hundred pieces, or twenty five dollars upon the board, in half dimes; and as the operation can be readily repeated three times in a minute, seventy five dollars of this small coin will be counted in that period of time.

The foregoing exemplification of the manner of constructing and using the instrument will suffice as a guide in adapting it to coins, or other articles smaller or larger than half dimes; in coins, however, it may not be found eligible to use it for those of a higher denomination than quarters of dollars; the strips of metal B, B, in combination with limit, however, is a question of convenience the strip C, C, placed at one end thereof, 15 merely. I said strip not rising higher than the thick- Having thus fully set forth the nature and I ness of the coins to be counted; the whole construction of the instrument for counting being arranged, combined, and employed, coins, and other articles capable of being for the purpose, and substantially in the so counted, and having also shown the manmanner above made known. ner in which the same is to be used, what is "*1 T claimed therein as new, and which it is de PHILOb T1 1C sired to secure by Letters latent, is-

The within described manner of dividing WVitncsses: the face of the instrument into a series of THos. P. J ONES, separate shallow troughs; by means of the M. E. JONES.

Administrator of Rufus Tyler, deceased. 

